Extra! Extra! 10/30
Hi, all, and happy Monday morning!
I promise after the midterms I’ll get back to sending this on Sunday nights. I canvassed in Huntington Beach yesterday with a mild cold and a bad back, so I opted to take last night off.
Better late than never, here’s a pretty significant list of reasons that, even amidst a torrent of disturbing and frightening news, we should still have hope.
Thank you, as always, for subscribing to my newsletter. 💙
Read This 📖
The Pundits Are Wrong About the Mid-Term Elections, by Michael Meeropol
Celebrate This! 🎉
Brazil’s far-right, awful Bolsonaro is gone!
Iranian men are joining the “fight against darkness” for women’s equality, life, and freedom in Iran. Standing beside women in the streets, some think their joining in the protests could be a watershed moment for the movement.
Renewable energy will power all of General Motors’ U.S. facilities by 2025, a quarter century sooner than expected, the company announced.
A DC judge gave a 7.5-year sentence to the U.S. Capitol rioter who delivered Officer Michael Fanone by his neck to a violent mob.
The District of Columbia Council passed a bill that, if approved by Mayor Muriel Bowser and Congress, would send mail ballots to all registered voters each election.
Court decisions ensured that counties in Pennsylvania may continue to provide both drop boxes and an opportunity for voters to correct minor errors on their mail ballot envelopes.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a new law protecting the confidentiality of voters who are survivors of sexual abuse.
A unanimous Nevada Supreme Court prohibited Nye County from live-streaming a hand count and reading results out loud to the public prior to the close of polls on Election Day.
After relentless pressure from activists, insurance company AXIS has agreed not to insure any projects that impact, but lack the consent of, indigenous communities. This is a huge win for human rights—and a big blow to fossil fuel pipelines!
California’s planet-warming emissions dropped nearly nine percent in 2020 compared to the year before, as pandemic restrictions kept many people at home and out of their cars.
American school buses are expected to go fully electric in the next decade, with the EPA awarding nearly 400 school districts roughly $1 billion in grants for such upgrades.
The U.S. economy grew 2.6% in the third quarter, reversing a six-month slump.
Citing low polling and in the interest of ensuring his state goes blue, Everett Stern, an independent candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, dropped out this week and “fully” endorsed Democrat John Fetterman.
Automotive giant Hyundai broke ground on its $5.54 billion electric vehicle and battery plant in Georgia this week. It’s expected to bring over 8,100 jobs to the area.
Student protesters flooded the field during the University of Pennsylvania’s homecoming football game this week to demand change. They want the university to “be a good neighbor” and save a low-income housing complex, pay its fair share in property taxes, and end fossil fuel investments.
Black and Latino Americans saw surges in enrollment in the federal government's health care marketplace between 2020 and 2022, according to a new report released by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Some U.S. states are getting more than $66.7 million for conservation efforts to protect the most at-risk species. The funding will go to 16 states and Guam and cover over 13,500 acres of habitat for 162 species.
San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors approved a bill last week making it legal to build four units of housing on any residential lot in the city and up to six units on corner lots. This marks a big shift for San Francisco, one of the most unaffordable cities in the country.
Brits welcomed the first wild baby bison born in the U.K. in thousands of years — and she’s adorable.
Renewable energy sources are substantially curbing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere: Global emissions grew by less than 1% this year, according to a new report.
Amid a new focus on mental health programming, U.S. military suicides are on the decline this year
During the United Nations’ climate conference in Scotland last year, the Biden Administration announced an international initiative to curb emissions of a powerful greenhouse gas — the Global Methane Pledge. More than 120 countries have since signed on, agreeing to cut methane emissions by at least 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030. Last Sunday, Australia, one of the last major holdouts among developed countries, joined the list.
Beto is running neck and neck with Abbott!
The U.S. Department of Energy last week unveiled a major investment in renewable energy generated by ocean tides and river currents.
Investment in wind and solar is set to outpace oil and gas drilling for the first time this year, according to one analyst — a milestone in the worldwide transition to clean energy that comes in spite of a spiraling energy crisis and calls to increase fossil fuel production.
Thanks for the uplifting news, Jess! We all need it now. Take care of yourself and get some rest. You can’t be our leader if you get sicker so take care of yourself first. And hopefully we can all celebrate on Nov. 9.
Run, Beto, run!